Search form

Social Menu

5 Best Haunted Happenings Around NYC

5 Best Haunted Happenings Around NYC

This clown is ready to escort you to the New York Haunted Hayride (Courtesy Ten Thirty One Productions)

Halloween is drawing ever closer and for those who enjoy tricks as much as (or more than?) treats, here are five spots around NYC that will help make this Halloween season a bit more spooktacular for you.

New York Haunted Hayride (Randall’s Island Park): In its second year in NYC, this Halloween-appropriate experience from Ten Thirty One Productions includes viscous demons, psychotic clowns and other terrific terrors. In addition to the Haunted Hayride there is also a Purgatory (a haunted village with a Theatre Macabre) and a dark maze called the House of Shadows. Open Thursdays through Sundays for the rest of October, as well as on Halloween, you can purchase tickets here.

Doomocracy (Sunset Park, Brooklyn): This political house of horrors is presented by Creative Time (an international conference on art and social change) and Brooklyn Army Terminal. Guests take a two-hour jaunt through an immersive art instillation (by Mexican artist/activist Pedro Reyes) where they come face-to-face with hot-topic political issues such as climate change, gun violence and more. Doomocracy runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the weekend before the election. This politically charged experience is presently booked, but you are encouraged to sign up for the Ticket Notification List for updates.

Blood Manor (SoHo): “New York City’s Premier Haunted Attraction,” Blood Manor is a haunted house that offers such creepy features as a crypt, a wake, a maggot invasion and Hannibal’s Hell. New for this year are flexible timed entry General Admission e-tickets (purchase here), as well as R.I.P. Express Entry tickets. Check the Blood Manor website for the most up-to-date schedule and hours of operation. For an extra fright, on November 4th and 5th, partake in “Lights Out Nights” where your group plows ahead with just one glow stick (yes, one glow stick total for your whole group) and minimal lighting in the Manor throughout your journey.

Mission Escape Games (Chinatown and Flushing, Queens): You have one hour to work together as a group to escape the game you’re trapped in. Both of Mission Escape Games’ locations have four missions apiece, with some appropriately creepy ones that would be perfect to try surrounding this Halloween. At the Chinatown locations, check out Escape the Hydeout (a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-themed challenge) and Escape the Darkest Hour (a horror-themed game where a psychopath is on the loose). In Flushing, the Curse of the Pharaoh challenges your group (while cursed, of course) to find the Book of the Dead at the tomb of King Tutankhamun. It is encouraged to make reservations in advance—check the Missions page for more information.

"Sleep No More" (Cheslea): Though guests have been checking in at The McKittrick Hotel since 2011 for this wordless interpretation of “Macbeth”—where the actors move silently as masked audience members wander from room to room of this multi-level performance space. (Wear comfortable shoes—you will be doing a lot of walking.) Special for October 28, 29 and 31 is an “Inferno” dance party with an open bar and live performances. Click here to make your reservations.